The military’s infamous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been repealed for over four months, outlawing exclusion and discrimination against LGBT populations in the military service. When seeking housing, however, LGBT populations across the country still face arbitrary prejudices and inequality.

That’s why on Jan. 28, Shaun Donovan, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, spoke to nearly 3,000 LGBT rights advocates at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change in Baltimore, Md., announcing a new policy to combat discrimination against LGBT people in federally supported housing programs.

“The size and breadth of Romney’s win provide the first real evidence that he has the potential to coalesce a party that has been deeply split …”wrote Karen Tumulty in an analysisforThe Washington Post.

A federal judge ruled that in-person early voting in Ohio
must be extended to include the weekend and Monday before Election Day
for all voters. The ruling is a result of President Barack Obama’s
campaign team and the Democrats filing a lawsuit against Secretary of
State Jon Husted to extend early voting. Attorney General Mike DeWine
has vowed to appeal the ruling. Republicans have consistently blocked
all attempts to expand early voting in Ohio, citing costs and racial
politics.

Cincinnati manufacturing is on a big rebound, according to
a new survey. The Cincinnati Purchasing Management Index, which is used
to measure manufacturing in the area, showed some decline in July, but
it is now bouncing back. The news could indicate a wider economic
recovery.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in town Saturday.
During his speech, Romney pointed fingers to “cheaters” like China,
which Romney believes is unfairly manipulating its currency. (China has
not been manipulating its currency for some time now.) Romney also
rolled out his plan to restore America’s economy by emphasizing small
businesses and cutting government spending. But the Brookings Institute
says the unemployment rate would be at 7.1 percent if it wasn’t for
government cuts passed by state and federal governments in the past few
years. Romney also wants to cut back on the Environmental Protection Agency, which he says is
hurting local jobs with too many regulations.

Competition in the Greater Cincinnati area has allowed
some cities to pay less for trash hauling services. Rumpke previously
held a stranglehold on the business, but that seems to be changing with the arrival of legitimate competitors — such as CSI and Forest Green.

The Obama campaign will open its offices in
Cincinnati tomorrow. The Obama team promises to use the offices for a
large ground game.

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio seems to have his geography
confused. At a speech, he said he wants senatorial candidate Josh Mandel
of Ohio to win to "run Harry Reid back to Nevada.” Reid is a U.S.
senator for Nevada.

U.S. home prices rose in July by the most in six years.
The news could indicate a recovery in the housing market. The housing
crash is generally attributed as the primary cause of the Great
Recession.

The Democratic National Convention is heading into day two
today. The convention is touting the new Democratic platform, which now
includes support for same-sex marriage. At the Ohio delegation in the
convention, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is often cited as a
potential presidential candidate for the 2016 election, criticized Kasich.

Newt Gingrich made the rounds of some Sunday morning TV political talk shows and made it clear he wouldn’t drop out of the contest for the Republican presidential nomination even if he lost Tuesday’s primary in Florida.

Ohio death row inmate Billy Slagle, who was scheduled to be executed on Aug. 7 was found hanged in his cell on Sunday.

Slagle, who fatally stabbed his neighbor 17 times in 1987, was recently denied clemency by Gov. John Kasich, despite a rare request from prosecutors to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison. CityBeat last week covered the situation here.

The restraining order granted last month to Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, the gay Ohio couple who in July flew to Maryland to officially tie the knot after 20 years of marriage, is set to expire today, meaning the judge overseeing the case must either renew the restraining order or issue a preliminary injunction. Arthur, who suffers from debilitating ALS, a neurological disease, is not expected to live much longer, which is why the two are fighting for their marriage to be recognized in their home state; in the case of Arthur’s death, Obergefell wants to be rightfully listed as his “surviving spouse.”

The first in-vitro hamburger, made of edible beef cells without actually killing a cow, was served today in London. According to food experts, the mouthfeel is similar to a conventional hamburger, but the traditional fatty flavor is still lacking.

A pool of mosquitoes in Dayton's Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark has tested positive for the West Nile virus, the first in the region this season.

Two Pennsylvania children have been prevented from discussing fracking for the rest of their lives under the terms of a gag order issued to their family in a settlement from drilling company Range Resources, who offered the children's family $750,000 to relocate from their fracking-polluted home, where they suffered from "burning eyes, sore throats, headaches and earaches" and other ailments as a result of their proximity to Range's drilling.

Mandel is being taken to court by liberal blog
Plunderbund. The blog claims Mandel has made it extra difficult to get
public records.

Preliminary data for Ohio schools was released yesterday.
Some data is still being held back while an investigation into
fraudulent reporting from some schools is finished, but the data gives some insight into how
schools performed during the 2011-2012 school year. The data can be
found here. From a local angle, the data shows Cincinnati Public
Schools (CPS) did not meet “adequate yearly progress,” a federal standard that
measures progress in student subgroups, such as minority groups; but CPS
did meet standards for “value-added growth,” which measures the
expected progress in state testing for all students between the third
and eighth grades.

City Council approved the $29 million financing plan for
the streetcar yesterday. The plan will use $15 million from the Blue Ash
airport deal to move utility lines and pipes. The city claims the $15
million, which was originally promised to neighborhood projects, will
be reimbursed by Duke Energy once the city settles a conflict with the
energy company. Duke and the city are currently arguing over who has to
pay to move the utility lines and pipes.

An Ohio state representative is asking the federal
government to monitor the election more closely. Rep. Alicia Reece, a
Cincinnati Democrat, is asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to send monitors
to the state to ensure no funny business goes on in voting booths on
Nov. 6. The request is partly in response to a recent court ruling
that forces Ohio to count provisional ballots if the ballots were
brought around by poll worker errors.

Ohio’s ability to stop political lies was upheld
yesterday. The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes
(COAST) tried to put an end to the government power, which COAST claimed
was censorship, by taking it to court, but a U.S. judge upheld the
ability. The judge, who is a former chairman of the Hamilton County
Republican Party, said COAST did not properly display that its speech was held
down by the law. Considering some of COAST’s tweets, the judge is
probably right.

Ohio might expand Medicaid, but not to the extent asked
for by Obamacare. That’s what the state’s Medicaid director said
yesterday, anyway. A previous study found Medicaid expansions improved and might
have saved lives in other states, and other studies have found Medicaid
expansions may save the state money by cutting uncompensated costs.

Gov. John Kasich signed a series of bills shoring up
Ohio’s public pension system yesterday. The laws will cut benefits
and raise eligibility requirements, but state officials insist the new
laws will mostly affect future retirees.

NASA wants samples from Mars, and it has a plan. The new plan may require a robot-to-human hand-off in space.

President Obama came to town yesterday, rolled up his sleeves and told a group of 1,500 supporters to tell Congress to get to work on passing his jobs bill. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell reportedly stayed in Washington, called the speech “political theater” and then ate some steaks. These mopes fact-checked the speech, finding that the major points were accurate, including the fact that all McConnell and Boehner really want to do is defeat Obama and eat steaks.

Measure would allow same-sex couples to register for benefits purposes

Cincinnati is one step closer to joining nine other Ohio cities that have established domestic partner registries, which would open up more possibilities for equal employee benefits for same-sex couples.

The registry, which would be run through the City Clerk’s office, would verify financial relationships between non-married domestic partners. The list would take a burden off employers, who currently have to independently verify financial relationships if they wish to provide equal benefits for partners of employees.

Couples would be required to show strong financial interdependency to qualify. Applicants to the registry would be eligible if they own joint property, have granted each other power of attorney, are named in each others’ will and meet other requirements.

Many large companies, as well as the city, already offer some form of domestic partner benefits. However, requirements can vary, and it’s expensive and time-consuming to set up criteria and then screen employees’ eligibility, especially for smaller employers.

The registry proposed for Cincinnati is based on one adopted by Columbus in 2012. It requires a $45 fee to register, which Seelbach says will pay for the program. If passed, Seelbach said the plan could be up and running in a few weeks.

Ohio’s unemployment rate remained at 7 percent in February, unchanged from January but down from 7.5 percent in February 2012. The stagnant rate comes despite a generally positive national unemployment report in February
— a sign that Ohio may be falling behind national growth rates. Both
the amount of employed and unemployed grew, but growth in employment
wasn’t enough to completely outweigh rises in unemployment. The job
losses were mainly in construction, state government, trade, transportation and
utilities, while professional and business services, educational and
health services and financial activities had particularly strong growth.

A state transportation budget that will raise rural speed
limits to 70 mph and leverage the Ohio Turnpike for statewide
transportation projects cleared the legislature. The bill received bipartisan support and opposition as
it moved through the Ohio House and Senate. Supporters say the bill will
create jobs and address the state’s infrastructure needs without raising
taxes, but opponents are worried potential toll hikes at the Ohio
Turnpike will hurt northern Ohio to subsidize projects for the rest of
the state.

Earlier in the day, Gov. John Kasich seemed to support same-sex civil unions, but his spokesperson walked back
the comments to clarify the governor is still against changing the Ohio
Constitution to support same-sex marriage and civil unions. The initial
comments from Kasich sparked a response from Ian James, co-founder of
FreedomOhio, which is pushing an amendment that would legalize same-sex
marriage in Ohio for 2013: “I hope Gov. Kasich understands civil unions
are banned by the Ohio Constitution as well and they are a cruel
substitute for legal marriage.” The Republican Party is currently
undergoing some soul-searching on the gay marriage issue, with a
Republican National Committee report recently pointing out a generational divide on the issue and Sen. Rob Portman coming out in favor of marriage equality last week.

Tea party leaders are threatening the Republican Party for recent moves
supporting LGBT rights, including Portman’s acceptance of
same-sex marriage. The group also opposes the expected appointment of
Matt Borges to chairman of the Ohio Republican Party because of a
2004 misdemeanor ethics conviction that was later expunged and Borges’
work as a lobbyist for Equality Ohio, an LGBT group.

Cincinnati’s year-over-year home sales were up in February, but growth wasn’t as quick as January.
There were 1,662 homes sold in February, up 11.9 percent from
February 2012 and more than the 1,600 homes sold in January. But January
year-over-year sales were up 27 percent from 2012.

Kasich’s sales tax plan, which was criticized for raising taxes across the board, may be dead, but Ohio legislators are still planning
to carry out changes to the income tax with the 2014-2015 budget. In the past week,
Policy Matters Ohio has pushed for the earned income tax credit, which CityBeat found could be a progressive alternative to an across-the-board cut to the income tax. CityBeat covered Kasich’s budget proposal in further detail here.

Gay marriage still recognized; Ohio could expand, save on Medicaid; death after Taser use

A federal judge on Tuesday extended the temporary restraining order recognizing a gay couple’s marriage in Ohio. As CityBeat covered here,
Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) and is expected to die soon, sued local and state
officials hoping to have their Maryland marriage acknowledged by Ohio
before Arthur’s death certificate was issued. Judge Timothy Black sided
with the couple, and he’s now extended the temporary restraining order
until December, which should provide enough time for Arthur’s expected
death and the remaining legal battle. The judge has made it clear that
the order only applies to Obergefell and Arthur.

Ohio could spend less on Medicaid if it expands eligibility for the program, according to a new analysis
from Ohio State University and the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. But
the expansion would have to come with cost controls that cap spending
growth at 3.5 percent to 4 percent, as opposed to the current rate of
7.2 percent. Still, the analysis shows that policies including an expansion can
save the state money. Under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), the
federal government is asking states to expand Medicaid to include anyone
at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In return, the
federal government would pay for the entire expansion for the first
three years then phase down its payments to 90 percent of the
expansion’s cost. Typically, the federal government pays for about 60 percent of Medicaid in Ohio.

A Sycamore Township man died yesterday after Hamilton County deputies used a Taser on him
during a brief struggle. Deputies found Gary Roell, 59, half-clothed
and smashing windows right before they took him into custody. It’s
unclear how many times the Taser was used or whether the Taser was the
direct cause of death. Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil says the deputies
followed protocol, given the violent actions carried out by Roell, who punched a
deputy in the face during the confrontation. Still, some groups have
been asking police departments around the country to change protocol
altogether. A 2012 report from Amnesty International
found at least 500 people died in the United States between 2001 and
2012 after being shocked with Tasers during their arrests or while in
jail.

The 2013 Ohio Health Issues Poll found that higher-income Ohio adults reported better health than those with lower incomes.
In 2013, 59 percent of Ohio adults above 138 percent of the federal
poverty level, or roughly $15,856 for a single-person household,
reported “excellent” or “very good” health, compared to only 26 percent
of those below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or about
$11,490 for a single-person household. The United Way of Greater
Cincinnati is pointing to the results as just one other way life is more
difficult for low-income Ohioans. The group intends to get at least 70
percent of the community to report “excellent” or “very good” health by
2020. Only about 53 percent of adults in southwest Ohio currently
report such health, according to the Ohio Health Issues Poll.

The Ohio Investigative Unit (OIU) today sent out a warning
to college students asking them to watch out for drugged drinks. OIU provided four safety tips: Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks can be
drugged, students shouldn’t leave a drink laying around or turn their
backs on it, they shouldn’t accept drinks from strangers or someone they
don’t trust, and students should watch their friends’ drinks and
act if they see anything suspicious. The Ohio Incident Based Reporting
System (OIBRS) shows there were 14 incidents of forcible rape with drug
as a weapon in 2012, but not all Ohio police departments report to
OIBRS, so the numbers are likely understated.